WiseArk Ltd which is a ‘micro-company specialising in supplying educational resources.
We specialise in resources for use in tutor time -many of which are also suitable for use in citizenship/PSHE.
We also have a range of resources to support learning in history.
I was a teacher for over 20 years so know from first-hand experience how engaged students can be when given challenges and puzzles.
WiseArk Ltd which is a ‘micro-company specialising in supplying educational resources.
We specialise in resources for use in tutor time -many of which are also suitable for use in citizenship/PSHE.
We also have a range of resources to support learning in history.
I was a teacher for over 20 years so know from first-hand experience how engaged students can be when given challenges and puzzles.
Information and activities on British PMs and General Elections since the first Labour MP.
Ideal for use in the period leading up to the General Election as well as for citizenship and British values.
There is a power point showing all the General elections with the resultant Prime Ministers since 1892 (and changes in PM post-election) -one slide per election (these also have a pie chart showing the number of seats won by the main parties)
A power point presentation of a range of activities – Listing recent PMs ; Sorting PMs into order; such as sorting into order, matching PMs with party/coalition, what’s the link?.
A word document with the activities from the power point plus 2 word searches and a crossword (and a copy with the answers)
*1892 was when Kier Hardie was the first ‘Labour’ MP elected
A simple sequencing activity to help develop chronological knowledge of Pre-Roman Britain (England)
There is a list of 24 events with dates -but events are listed alphabetically- and a blank table to enter the information into. So students need to sequence the dates first (there is a sheet/table to help them with doing this).
There is also a support version in which the table to complete has the dates in order so students just need to find the corresponding event.
The events are mostly those which feature in the linked resources on developing chronological understanding including the power point-from 6,000 BCE when Britain became separated from Europe with the submerging of Doggerland to the Roman Invasion in 43 CE
This resource is suitable for use in class as well as ideal for homework / independent study.
What is it? Close up
A set of 50 photo puzzles;
Each slide on the power point has a photo of an everyday object BUT taken from close-up or an unusual angle. The challenge is to guess what the object is – the next slide each time has a photo of the same object but showing what it is (from a normal position).
Ideal for use in tutor time, especially as an alternative type of challenge for those good at observation.
A set of 40 observation challenges which require students (or adults!) to study images carefully. There are two different types of challenge:
One is odd one out – a set of three pictures, the challenge is to work out which has one difference from the other two.
The second is spot the difference -a set of two pictures , the challenge is to identify the six differences between each picture.
They are provided both on power point and in word document format.
They are suitable for use in a variety of settings -such as cover tasks, time fillers or in tutor time - even as a staffroom challenge.
A resource to encourage purposeful talk and for students to reflect on their values.
Each Moral Dilemmas provides a situation (such as finding money in the street) and asks student’s how they would respond –individually or as a group.
Moral dilemmas are part of life and so their discussion fits into many areas of school life; ideal for use in tutor time -especially in encouraging talk with a focus and helping tutors learn more about their group.
Suitable also for use in PSHE/Citizenship and RE –saving the need to devise suitable scenarios.
The objectives are to encourage students to
discuss and so develop their speaking and listening skills;
reflect on their values and how to treat others with respect
The resources supplied are a power point with 40 different dilemmas which are also supplied in a word document. They cover a range from ‘cheating’ at sport (the officials don’t notice an infringement) to who would you give a heart transplant to if the choice was a former alcoholic or a former chain smoker -so that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer.
This is a set of five colouring pages featuring some of the Olympian deities from our linked resources. (Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athene, Demeter, Hepasteus, Hera, Poseidon, and Zeus in Olympia)
A resource to support work on this popular topic as well as being useful for cross curricular art and for use when providing resources for ‘school at home’.
Supplied as a pdf for ease of printing the images are taken from a range of public domain sources (mainly 19th century books) and as they are mainly screenshots of old book pages this may be reflected in the quality of the outlines though many have been digitally enhanced to help provide an outline for colouring in.
Please note that these images also appear in our larger collection of colouring pages on Gods, religion and home life.
Since the end of WW1 the world has never been fully at peace.
This resource is ideal for use at this time of remembrance (whilst also extending horizons to look at the wider world)
This resource shows in visual form how the past 100+ years have still been a period of ongoing conflict (despite hopes that WW1 would be the ‘war to end all wars’).
There is a selection of 50 different conflicts; a range covering civil wars, invasions and multi-national wars. The emphasis is on the post WW2 period to help support citizenship learning-in particular through helping show why there are so many refugees given the recent and on-going conflicts. (The emphasis is on the global community so wars such as the Falklands which was ‘just’ UK v an opponent are not included in this resource).
In the main presentation each slide represents one year (running through takes just over 5 minutes) with each year showing the selected conflicts taking place in that year (so some slides are rather crowded!). For each conflict the dates are given as well as one sentence about it (this only appears when the conflict begins).
There is also a power point presentation of 50 slides -one per conflict- as well as a word document with the same information.
Finally there is a set of three word searches featuring most of the nations involved in the featured conflicts.
A memory challenge using images- based on ‘Kim’s game’.
There is a set of slides each of which features 10 different pictures-that will disappear one by one so that after a minute all are gone. (there is a second slide with them all on to check after a chance to recall the images)
How many can your students remember (or you??) ; can be done as a solo challenge or in groups (useful for encouraging team work –what’s a winning strategy?) – could also be used as a staff challenge!
30 separate challenges -all on power point.
A set of over 50 of the popular vocabulary-based challenge.
Each ladder has a four-letter word at the top and a different four-letter one at the bottom.
Simply change the top word into the bottom one by altering one letter at a time (so creating three new words to fit in the empty ‘rungs’)
Supplied on power point (1 ladder per slide) and in a word document (with answers separately)
Ideal for use in tutor time or as a starter/time-filler -or even as a staffroom challenge!
Further updated for changes to MLW and NI in April 2024, as well as some price changes.
Two power points that will help students prepare for the world of work and living away from home.
The first presentation looks at income from employment –considering the main deductions that lead to net pay being less than gross pay.
The slides take students though the process step by step, calculating the deductions from a national living wage job.
The second presentation considers main household expenses such as rent, council tax and insurance. Again the slides take a methodical approach, allowing students to see how quickly their income will be spent.
Ideal for use in PSHE; also available as a separate resource is a set of worksheets for students to do their own working out – these are ideal for functional maths –calculator required!
Of particular use to those now old enough to vote – a brief guide to key elements of the voting process for General elections from the electoral register to the count.
A power point presentation (7 information slides) covers the various stages of the process including:
Registering to vote;
At the polling station including voting;
The count -and how the winner is decided.
Reminder that are choosing MP not PM.
There is also a one sheet word document that summarises this information
A selection of activities to help tutor groups or classes get to know each other.
There are a range of tasks and challenges which require students to talk to each other in order to complete.
Some challenges are especially useful as ‘ice-breakers’ such as ‘Sorting ‘ and ‘Find someone who’ (see below).
Others are more suitable when the students have begun to get to know each other such as ‘Discussion Points’ and ‘Dilemmas’ .
Sorting activities – getting children moving and engaging with each other such as by first name or date of birth.
‘Find someone who ‘ – they have to find someone who can do a particular task or who likes something particular or who has (done) something.
Discussion points - a set of questions to get small groups talking about issues (we have tried to avoid any controversial topics)
Dilemmas – a different type of question for groups to discuss their response to certain situation (again we have tried to avoid any controversial topics)
Ten miscellaneous challenges including ‘think outside the box, number association and ‘tell the time’ and an 'A-Z ’ of categories -which are suitable for use at either stage.
A set of visual challenges that provide a different opportunity for group working: ‘spot the differences’ and ‘what is it’ (digitally altered images).
The resources are provided on a power point presentation as well as in a word document contains the same activities- especially useful are the sheets to fill in for the ‘Find someone who…’ challenges.
A resource to help students improve their knowledge and understanding of the chronology of Ancient Sumerian history.
This resource is designed specifically to help students in particular with the concept of chronology.
To help with understanding the passage of time there is a power point presentation that shows the intervals between events, from c5000 BCE -start of the Uruk period and increasing urbanisation to c1760 BCE when the Babylonians conquered Mesopotamia.
This has a range of 25 selected events and is designed to convey a sense of the passage of time by having the transition between slides vary in length depending on how many years actually passed between events.
Each slide has a date, event and appropriate illustration. (Each event slide is on show for five seconds and the whole presentation lasts for approximately five minutes).
There is also a ‘click through’ version of the slide show (same events) to enable the teacher to pause to give additional information or discuss the event with students.
The selection of events is not meant to be definitive for the study of that period (it’s a selection not a comprehensive timeline). It is also a compilation from a range of different sources this allows for an extra activity/challenge of students deciding what is missing/what could be left out?
366 events/people from the history of the continent-from the first Chinese Emperor to ISIS.
This is a resource to support learning about Asian history throughout the year.
There is a power point presentation on which every day has its own slide with the featured event or person from the history of Asia (including the Middle East).
There is also a word document with the same information on.
There is a wide range of events/people including the well-known such as Gandhi and Malala Yousafzai; there are also less famous ones such as Kenjiro Takayanagi and the Battle of San Juan del Monte. Similarly we have tried to include every nation on the continent so it literally covers Afghanistan to Vietnam. (This is a companion resource to our other ‘Years of’ so we have tried to avoid duplicates but this has not always been possible)
A simple sequencing activity to help develop chronological knowledge of Ancient Sumer.
There is a list of events with dates -but events are listed alphabetically- and a blank table to enter the information into. So students need to sequence the dates first (there is a sheet/table to help them with doing this).
There is also a support version in which the table to complete has the dates in order so students just need to find the corresponding event.
The 22 events are taken from those which feature in the linked resources on developing chronological understanding including the power point- from c5000 BCE -start of the Uruk period and increasing urbanisation to c1760 BCE when the Babylonians conquered Mesopotamia.
This resource is suitable for use in class as well as ideal for homework / independent study.
A resource to help students improve their knowledge and understanding of the history of Roman Britain.
This resource is designed specifically to help students in particular with the concept of chronology.
To help with understanding the passage of time there is a power point presentation that shows the intervals between events, from the invasion of 43 CE (ordered by Emperor Claudius) to the end of Roman control in 410 CE (when the appeal to Rome for help was rejected).
This has a range of 25 selected events and is designed to convey a sense of the passage of time by having the transition between slides vary in length depending on how many years actually passed between events.
Each slide has a date, event and appropriate illustration. (Each event slide is on show for five seconds and the whole presentation lasts for approximately five minutes).
There is also a ‘click through’ version of the slide show (same events) to enable the teacher to pause to give additional information or discuss the event with students.
The selection of events is not meant to be definitive for the study of that period (it’s a selection not a comprehensive timeline). It is also a compilation from a range of different sources this allows for an extra activity/challenge of students deciding what is missing/what could be left out?
A set of linked resources and activities to help develop knowledge of Britain before the Roman conquest.
There is a power point with a map showing a number of Celtic/Iron Age tribes in England, Wales and Southern Scotland: Atrebates, Brigantes, Corieltauvi, Cornovii, Dumnonii, Durotriges, Iceni, Novantae, Ordovices, Regnenses, Silures, Votadini (selected in part to give a wide geographical on the map). As this is just a selection of the multitude of tribes it allows for an extra activity/challenge of students deciding who else should be included/who could be left out?
There are also slides to print out with the names missing (or just the first letter provided) for students to complete (the list is contained in the word document).
The word document lists the tribes with their approximate modern day areas and has three separate activities.
The first is a set of printable ‘cards’ with the name of the tribe and its approximate modern day area for the tribes on the map – they can be used for matching pairs etc.
Second is similar but set out as a set of dominoes to allow for greater variety.
Thirdly is a set of two word searches covering most of the names of the featured tribes and the main modern day areas.
Together the set provides a range of ways of developing knowledge of Pre-Roman Britain and most activities are suitable for homework or adapted for ‘school at home’.
A memory challenge using images- based on ‘Kim’s game’.
There is a set of slides each of which features 10 different pictures-that will disappear one by one so that after a minute all are gone. (there is a second slide with them all on to check after a chance to recall the images)
How many can your students remember (or you??) ; can be done as a solo challenge or in groups (useful for encouraging team work –what’s a winning strategy?) – could also be used as a staff challenge!
The full resource has 30 separate challenges -all on power point.
An example of an ideal resource for a cover lesson or a homework task; each crossword has 20 clues which will complete the grid.
The full resource has 21 crosswords on a range of topics including: Battles, women and Germany. It comes with a free version that has the first letter of each answer as support.
